Collisions A Paper Peril, Faa Says

March 12, 1986|By United Press International.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration chief has told a Senate Republican panel that increased reports of aircraft near-collisions are the result of new recording procedures, not unsafe air travel.

Donald Engen, head of the FAA, told the Senate Republican Conference task force on air transportation safety Monday he will not compromise on safety.

``I would not let safety diminish one iota,`` Engen told the panel meeting to look over a General Accounting Office report on controllers.

The panel chairman, Sen. Robert Kasten (Wis.) said statistics show the chances of a bathtub accident are greater than the chances of an aviation accident, but said statistics ``can`t hide the fact that Americans are flying with white knuckles. These days people are actually starting to think twice about flying the friendly skies.``

Kasten challenged Engen about the rising number of near-collision reports, but Engen said that was due to a new reporting system that is providing a better look at the problem.

``The numbers are not going up. The reports are coming through in greater frequency,`` he told Kasten.

The FAA official said there are 13,958 controllers on the job and he expects to have 14,486 working by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Another 480 are due in the next fiscal year.

``That is my goal and I`ll be there,`` he told the hearing.

Engen also said that at the moment there are more than the required number of fully qualified controllers, but a shortage of air traffic control assistants, who do not control aircraft but instead perform largely clerical chores.